Keir Starmer won’t leave much of a legacy, but his last week has brought one thing which will be seen as a totemic achievement in Labour circles: he has completed the nationalisation of British Steel. Not only will that warm the cockles of his party members, but Starmer has stolen a march on Nigel Farage, who had also proposed to nationalise what remains of the steel industry.

It would be easy to dismiss this as a 1970s tribute act, or a socialist dream of driving towards full collective ownership of the means of production. But in truth, taking British Steel into government ownership – at least on a temporary basis – can beto be a pragmatic policy, essential for national resilience and security. The company’s Chinese owners, Jingye, had threatened to close the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, taking with it........

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